NZSL Strategy consultation is ready for your input
What should New Zealand Sign Language look like in 5 years? Share your thoughts now with the NZSL consultation!
April 24th, 2025
The NZSL Board is inviting everyone to share their thoughts on the draft New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Strategy.
This is your chance to help shape the future of NZSL in Aotearoa New Zealand, but it is a big document (even the awesome EasyRead version) so we took a look on what NZSL are hoping to get out of the strategy review.
What’s it all about?
The draft strategy focuses on five key areas:
Acquisition: Making sure Deaf children and adults can learn NZSL.
Use/Access: Ensuring NZSL can be used in all parts of life, including at home, school, work, and in public services.
Attitude: Encouraging positive views of NZSL and its users.
Documentation: Recording and researching NZSL to support its growth and understanding.
Status: Recognising NZSL as a valued and official language in New Zealand.
These areas aim to support the Deaf community and promote the use of NZSL across the country.
How can you get involved?
The NZSL Board wants to hear from you. Do you agree with these five focus areas? These are the five they landed on and they’re really happy to hear from our community on if there are ways in which these five strategic priority areas be improved. They also want to hear what your main barriers are to accessing NZSL and what the Government should be focusing more on when they make policies.
If you have energy left after that, they’d also love to know what’s working well. Sharing what you love is a great way to make sure it keeps going. Of course, it’s also nice to appreciate the people working hard to make NZSL accessible and useful for people.
Who should get involved with the NZSL consultation?
Whether you're Deaf, hard of hearing, a family member, educator, interpreter, or just someone who cares about NZSL, your input is valuable.
You can read the draft strategy and find out how to provide your feedback by visiting the NZSL Board's website: nzsl.govt.nz
The consultation closes 2 June 2025
They’ve shared load of videos, stats, and versions of the strategy draft to help you understand what you’re looking at and give great feedback.
Let's work together to support and celebrate NZSL in Aotearoa!